How unusual cells may hold key to HIV control

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How unusual cells may hold key to HIV control

Rare people who manage to control HIV on their own are offering new

insights into how the immune system kills infected cells.

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/081204_hiv

Rare people who manage to control HIV on their own are offering new

insights into how the immune system eliminates virus-infected cells,

researchers say. A study identifies specific qualities of the immune

cells that successfully destroy infected cells and may drive strategies

for developing new HIV vaccines and therapies. The rare individuals

dubbed “long-term nonprogressors†are able to contain

HIV, the virus behind AIDS, for many years without treatment. Evidence

suggests certain virus-specific immune cells, called CD8+ T cells,

confer this ability by destroying virus-infected cells†" but how

remains unknown, said senior study author Mark Connors of the National

Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in Bethesda, Md. Using new

tools that precisely measure these cells’ killing capacity,

Connors and colleagues compared how cells from progressors

non-progressors battle the virus. The CD8+ T cells of nonprogressors

clobbered infected cells by successfully dispensing protein molecules

onto them which poked holes in their protective membranes, the

researchers found. The immune cells subsequently delivered a deadly

molecule called granzyme B to the compromised cells. The CD8+ T cells of

progressors accomplished this process poorly, investigators found. But

these diminished abilities were reversible after treatment with certain

compounds, including phorbol ester and calcium ionophore, suggesting

possible therapeutic strategies, they added. The findings could also

“be an extremely important milestone for HIV vaccine

research,†said es, lead author of the study,

published in the Dec. 4 issue of the research journal Immunity.

[Guest guest]

Here is another way to control HIV:

http://tinyurl.com/ldn-for-hiv-aids

How unusual cells may hold key to HIV control

How unusual cells may hold key to HIV control

Rare people who manage to control HIV on their own are offering new

insights into how the immune system kills infected cells.

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/081204_hiv

Rare people who manage to control HIV on their own are offering new

insights into how the immune system eliminates virus-infected cells,

researchers say. A study identifies specific qualities of the immune

cells that successfully destroy infected cells and may drive strategies

for developing new HIV vaccines and therapies. The rare individuals

dubbed “long-term nonprogressors†are able to contain

HIV, the virus behind AIDS, for many years without treatment. Evidence

suggests certain virus-specific immune cells, called CD8+ T cells,

confer this ability by destroying virus-infected cells� " but how

remains unknown, said senior study author Mark Connors of the National

Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in Bethesda, Md. Using new

tools that precisely measure these cells’ killing capacity,

Connors and colleagues compared how cells from progressors

non-progressors battle the virus. The CD8+ T cells of nonprogressors

clobbered infected cells by successfully dispensing protein molecules

onto them which poked holes in their protective membranes, the

researchers found. The immune cells subsequently delivered a deadly

molecule called granzyme B to the compromised cells. The CD8+ T cells of

progressors accomplished this process poorly, investigators found. But

these diminished abilities were reversible after treatment with certain

compounds, including phorbol ester and calcium ionophore, suggesting

possible therapeutic strategies, they added. The findings could also

“be an extremely important milestone for HIV vaccine

research,†said es, lead author of the study,

published in the Dec. 4 issue of the research journal Immunity.